Unknown by new Tigers teammates, Guillermo Hernandez lifted Detroit to 1984 world championship

AP File PhotoGuillermo "Willie" Hernandez won the Cy Young and AL MVP award in 1984 en route to helping the Tigers win the World Series.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Detroit Tigers had just picked up the pitcher who would win that season's Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards and lead them to a World Series win.

But in the team's spring training clubhouse, the announcement that Guillermo "Willie" Hernandez had been acquired was no cause for celebration.

"It came at the tail end of spring and we all asked, 'Who is this Hernandez guy?' " said Detroit infielder Tom Brookens, recalling the March 24, 1984 trade of Glenn Wilson and John Wockenfuss to the Philadelphia Phillies for Hernandez and first baseman Dave Bergman.

"I thought, 'We're getting rid of two pretty good hitters here.' I guess they did their homework, though, because when Willie came in that year, it was game over.

"But in a lot of our minds at the time, we questioned the trade. It's when I quit questioning things."

Hernandez converted 32 of 33 saves; closed out the division, league championship and Series clinchers, all at Tiger Stadium; led the American League with 80 games pitched and 68 finished; and went 9-3 with a 1.92 ERA.

He's one of five pitchers to win the MVP and Cy Young in the same season.

Detroit general manager Jim Campbell, who died in 1995, put the final touches on his last championship team by getting a southpaw reliever with just 27 career saves who became a sure hammer to nail victories.

"To get a Cy Young and MVP in that trade was a steal," said Dan Petry, a starting pitcher in 1984. "It's one of the all-time great trades. All we ever hear about is trading John Smoltz (to the Atlanta Braves) for Doyle Alexander (in 1987), but we never hear much about this trade.

"When it was made, Jack (Morris) said he knew a little about him from winter ball. He said, 'We're getting a pretty good pitcher.' But we really had no idea what we'd just gotten. And Bergie played a very important role, too."

Brookens, now the manager of Detroit's Double-A Erie (Pa.) SeaWolves, and Petry still pull on the Olde English D with Hernandez and other 1984 teammates at Tiger Fantasy Camps held here every January. Though, Hernandez had to miss much of this year's camp with heart problems that landed him in a Lakeland hospital and required placement of a pacemaker.

Hernandez, so tough because of a screwball and cut fastball that he threw inside to right-handed hitters, pitched 140 innings in 1984.

Consider that in 2008 only 48 American League starting pitchers surpassed Hernandez's inning total from that magical season. He often was his own setup man before closing, which was common in that era. Francisco Rodriguez threw 68 innings last year en route to setting the major league record with 62 saves.

"And after Willie came into games, it was no contest," Petry said. "The perception is that closing is easy: 1-2-3, boom-boom-boom. But it's not. And he was automatic. The only save he blew all year was long after we'd clinched (and was the result of allowing a sacrifice fly with a one-run lead against the Yankees)."

Hernandez was an All-Star for three consecutive seasons beginning that year.

Ken Singleton, a switch-hitting outfielder closing out a 15-year career for the Baltimore Orioles that year (2,029 hits, 246 home runs, three-time All-Star), said in 1984 that he couldn't choose a poison when asked about facing Goose Gossage, now in the Hall of Fame, or Hernandez.

"Goose is very overwhelming," Singleton said, "but Willie is very confusing. Hernandez is not the kind of guy who will come on and blow you away, but at least with Gossage you know what's coming. Hernandez has a great screwball and curve, and a tough fastball. You hear a lot about his screwball, but he's no one-pitch pitcher."

Roger Craig, then Detroit's pitching coach, said Hernandez had a "sneaky fast" fastball in the low 90 mph range that kept hitters off balance. Hernandez said he only threw the screwball ahead in the count.

Pitching came late for Hernandez, a third baseman and shortstop in Puerto Rico as a youngster. He grew up in Aquada, the son of a sugar cane factory worker, and was one of nine children born to Dioncio and Dominga Hernandez, who had their children active in neighborhood athletic clubs.

His mother and sisters played softball, and Hernandez was a good-hitting first baseman-outfielder as a teenager. Then one day he threw batting practice to his teammates on an amateur club. The next day, having impressed everybody with his stuff, Hernandez was given a start and responded with a one-hitter, going the distance.

One month later, Ruben Armaro signed him for the Phillies.

Three years later, after the Chicago Cubs made him a Rule 5 draft pick, Hernandez was in the majors. He learned the cut fastball then from teammate and future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins.

But the screwball came later. Winter league teammate Mike Cuellar, who had shared the 1969 Cy Young with McLain, taught him the pitch that was hard to hit but also hard on arms.

"He showed me how to throw the screwball with my wrist bent to the side like a snake," Hernandez said. "He said it wouldn't hurt my shoulder that way, without twisting."

He toyed with the pitch with the Cubs, but didn't really use it until traded back to the Phillies on May 22, 1983.

Philadelphia decided to hold onto its other talented southpaw reliever, Al Holland, and dealt Hernandez to the Tigers.

Detroit would put him on center stage for the first time. He was finally a closer.

Hernandez was on the mound at Tiger Stadium to close out the division, pennant and Series clinchers in 1984.

It had been 49 years since Detroit won the Series at home, and after left fielder Larry Herndon caught the final out players and fans filled the field in a rush of joy.

"All of a sudden, everyone was around me and I went blind," Hernandez said that night. "I couldn't even see the dugout. My tobacco got knocked out of my jaw, and I was choking. I felt sick, and ran straight for the sink in the clubhouse to throw up. If I had stayed out on the field, I would have ended up in the hospital."

Tigers manager Sparky Anderson said he knew Hernandez was up to be the closer, but had no idea he would end up being nearly perfect.

"We proved to him that he didn't have to be secondary," Anderson said. "He could be No. 1. Willie had that great screwball and competed.

"What a job he did for us, boy."

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